Portable ignition timing light



Nov. 8, 1960 L. W. F'ARMATERv ,ET AL PORTABLE I-GNITION TIMING LIGHT Filed may 29. 1958 United States Patent Of 2,959,711 .PQRTABLE IGNTIONHMWG .LIQHT Lee -Parmater, 10131 Riverview Drive, andRohert M. TIS/tain; 3932 Canterbury Drive, both of Kalamazoo, 1c l.

.nina May 2a .attestant-.138,115 3 Claims. (Gl. 315.-...229

The present invention relates to stroboscopic testing devices, and more particularly to fa novel portable Vtiming light f or ascertaining ignition timing of autoxnobilei 4cylindlrls. r

IIn general, it is common to useua stroboscopic light iia'shing on la rotating engine part Stich `as a flywheel which periodically'illuminated by the vlight-fornthe purpose of determining whether or not a plug is 'ring'at the Pieper time- '-.Snehtilnina llights Obtain ,their energy ,either .directly lfrom the ignition 'spark or fr ornfan external source yunder Central at the ienitienv,The Present inventien teintes te battery-operated timing lights which are powered from the car battery through a vibrator and which utilize Aa .tlaehbnlh ,et .thetypethat in ignite@ antler eentneln't inipulses from a'spark plug line. Prior art lights1 have; here tofore been 4known for this purpose, `whiclrwere of relatively vcostly construction and which used more battery current than need-ed for the reason that the light was energized' even when not infuse unless l'disconnected `from me battery.

Further, prior vart lights usable for both six and twelve yolt ignition systems required expensive relays'to set the circuitI for one voltage Vor the other, which'relays vwere not always reliable in operation particularlyif the battery yoltage vwas not up to rated' value." Failure of therelay toop'erat'e when it should, resulted in damage tolthe light. Undercertain conditions, as in starting up the engine where the ,voltageY regulator is set Ka little too there would be produced a voltage surge before the relay `could function, and damage to the circuit cornponents results.

The above drawbacks are overcome in the present invention by providing a novel timing light of general coniiguratio'riy resemblinga gun with a button at substantially trigger positionV to be pressed when theli'ght'is to be energized for the timing determinatiene- Thus, a yrneehanie putting-the light gun down, would naturally release the bnttenanti 4Wenltl net have te, aieeanneet the eahlefe-ni the una from vthe battery te prevent battery entrent :frein being needlessly diseipated- Thenev'el eiienit need herein is entail, and .Snliieiently light in weight, te he ,fnllyeneleeed-inthe annilea Thus a fully portable, self-contained timing light uniti'is alforded by my invention, which is easy to handle, aim and use.

Further, the present invention uses a novel ballast resistance circuit in conjunction with the light flash circuit which automatically drops the voltage from a twelvevolt battery to a six-volt range for its operation, thereby eliminating the need for the heretofore used relays, and being more reliable in operation.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel and useful timing light that is portable, self-contained and in the form of a gun.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel stroboscopic timing light circuit incorporating a v-2 ballast resister vvhieh Y,anttnnatieallv .eenrerte the haai..- atien-fet einentwelve velt batteryne A further object ofthe-present invent1on to provide a nevel timing light .eirenit and eenetfnetien whieli on onlywhen-actually used for timing determinations, and antematieallv kept eli at ,ether intervals at eennection to the battery.

,The abat/.e antl ether ebieete Vant,i advantages ,et this invention will become apparent from the foyllowing de- Setintien afan eneinnlaty enihetliinent .ther-eef takenin eeninnetien with vthe "drawings, in vvhieh Figure l is an elevational view showing `Ythe `,timing lishtafe a Pietel enannnhanesl'ebieet- "tiene 2 is a non viewaf the enthalten gaat Figure 3 Yis a plan view of the internalvconstruction of the exemplary timing unit. y

Figure `4 is a `schematic electrical Adiagram of the timing light circuit. l Referring to the iigures, the invention timing light is in the form of -a gun or pistol readily held in ones hand, It is yself-contained .within two body halves 15, 15 each having handle et gan butt Pertiene 1.6, 16 ansi .leas barrel sections 17, 17. The two body halves'1 5,. 15 mate and are closed together with suitable recessed screws 1,8, 18. Atrigger switch extends from butt sections 1 6, 16 atvthe index finger location lfor ready control'action.

The threeele'ad cable 21 extends below the handle `16, for yconnections to be described. A helical spring l22 stabilizes ,the cable to the unit. lThe Lcasing 15, '1 5 is cast preferably of .aluminum for light-weight andruggedness in use. Cable 21.comprises three leads. Leads 22, n2 3 are fer .the eat et a Standby kSteraae battery and lenti `24 for connection to the spark plugs to be tested, Lals will be set-forth..

An important feature of the herein yirwention is the ready portability, compactness land KSeli-,con ed ar rangement of the whole u nit. The body intey r of the igun unit readily inounrtsthe electrical components 'of the novel timing `light circuithereof. The timing llight isa suitable bright flash tube 25, operable at s eyjeral hundred volts in its flash mode. A conventional lens 26 vfocuses the flash ahead ofthe .gu n barrel in use thereof. Lens 26 is mountedrat the forward lend 27. 'The other circuit components are suitably mounted within the hollow vcasing fQrmed bythe body halves 15, 15,

The exemplary ignition timing circuit isscheinatically shan/n in Figure 4! An `,eleettetneehanife,al vibrate? .3.9 is arranged to periodically apply battery` A(2 8) current through the primary winding 36. of step-up transformer 35. VWhen trigger '20 press'zsl switch 20 to'closef-battery cables 22, 2-3fp`ass a current surge through 'vibrator coil 34, transformer primary 36l anda ballast resistor 40 in series. A resistor 44, yas ohms, connects cable 22.to ground. Vibratory contact 31 thereuponcloses on fixed contact 32, short-circuiting coil 34. Contact 31fis vthereby released, and swings' against fixed back contact. Egon,-

ltact 33 connects to oneend-.Of seeentlary-winslinazpt transformer 35 through a limiting resistor 41, such as 1000 ohms.

The current surge or pulse through primary winding 36 creates a stepped-up voltage across the terminals of secondary winding 37, having a condenser 42 in shunt conncction therewith. A suitable value for condenser 42v is .024 mfd. While back-contact 33 is connected with vibrating contact 31 the transformer 35 output circuit is completed through ash tube 25. A large stabilizing condenser 43, such as 2 mfd. with high rating at 600 volts is shunted across tube 25. The opening of contact 31 from contact 32 meanwhile permits reenergization of vibrator coil 34 to reattract reed contact 31 against contact 32. Thus another surge of current is passed through pri? .Ratentedhleu 28,1960.

mary winding 36 when contacts 31 and 32 reestablish, in turn deenergizing coil 34.

The aforesaid operation persists while trigger 20 maintains contact 20 closed by finger pressure. .When the trigger 20 is released its associated spring opens switch 20 and returns the trigger 20 button to off condition. While switch 20' is closed or on, vibrator 31 operates to intermittently passcurrent surges 'through transformer primary winding 36 and establish a high voltage across ash tube 25 and its condenser 43, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

When switch 20' is open or off no such high voltage is' built up across tube 2S, and the tube cannot therefore llash while the trigger 20 is unpressed. In this manner no system component operation or power waste occurs whennot needed or used. When the operator wishes to use the stroboscopic operation for the testing, he simply presses trigger 20 and aims the units lens 26 to the target. The ashing circuit operation is thereupon immediately effective as well.

In using the invention unit, the tripper element 45 associated with flash tube 25 is connected through cable lead 24 to a spark plug, preferably the No. l spark plug of a warmed up internal combustion engine, such as a passenger automobile engine. With condenser 43 charged-up with suitably high voltage, tube 25 will flash upon ring of the spark plug. Such tube 25 flashing occurs in synchronism with the spark plug (not shown) firing, producing brilliant flashes through lens 26 to the target.

Engine timing is checked by noting the position of a mark on the car flywheel or balancer at the time the No. l spark plug fires. The unit is designed to ash a brilliant beam of light of extremely short duration at the instant the spark fires at the plug. Timing checks made are therefore accurate and easy to make. The vehicle manufacturers specifications are best consulted for information and instructions concerning the timing mark on the particular engine to be checked.

With the engine warmed up and idling, the trigger 20 is pressed and the light pointed at the recommended timting mark. If the engine timing is correct, the mark will be seen in accordance with the manufacturers recommendation.

The preferred method of timing some cars is at a higher speed than idling with the distributor vacuum line disconnected. A tachometer makes it possible to accurately time at these specic speeds. If the mark does not show at the proper location, the lock screw holding the distributor is loosened and the distributor housing rotated slowly until the `mark is seen in accordance with the manufacturers recommendation.

A further advantageous and important feature of the present invention is the novel and practical provision for automatically operating the circuit of Figure 4 from either a six-volt or the newere car twelve-volt battery. This is a two-to-one difference. In the prior art a voltage-sensitive relay was `used to modify or select the proper circuit for the voltage to which it is applied. In accordance with the present invention this is accomlation.

Yplished directly through the series ballast resistor 40. The

resistive value of ballast has no appreciable effect upon the vibratory circuit 31, 3S or its operation when a six-volt battery is applied at 28. However, when a twelvevolt battery is applied, the resistance of ballast 40 increases appreciably to maintain the normal and proper operation of the circuit thereof.

The ballast resistor 40 is used herein for voltage regu- The ballast resistor 40 has a great advantage over use of a relay. This advantage Iis as follows: A timing light unit which uses a relay for making this voltage adjustment usually has this relay adjusted to close nt about nine-volts so that when connected to six volts, it does not operate but when connected to twelve volts, it does operate. Under certain conditions, such as in starting the engine where possibly the voltage regulator is set a little too high, there is a voltage surge of some duration before the voltage regulator can function. If this surge were, say, eight and one-half volts it would noty be sufficient to close the relay, but would be of sutlicient strength to cause damage to the components of the light which are, of course, in connection for six-volt operation until the relay closes. Voltage control with the herein ballast resistor 40, has the distinct advantage of giving continuous regulation from five to twenty volts automatically.

While we have described and illustrated our invention it is to be understood that modifications thereof, or in its use, may be made by those skilled in the art, and that it is not intended to be limited except as set forth in the fol-A lowing claims.

We claim:

1. A timing light unit of the character described oper-I able from a D.C. voltage source with a voltage range over two-to-one comprising a flash tube for emitting light flashes under control of spark impulses, means connect-` ible to one of said voltage sources for energizing said f tube including a vibrator and a step-up transformer in circuit relation with said vibrator, and circuit means for automatically regulating the voltage applied to said tube energizing means to a value for effective operation thereof including a ballast resistor.

2. A timing light unit as claimed in claim 1, in which said ballast resistor is connected in series with the pril; mary winding of said step-up transformer.

3. A timing light unit as claimed in claim l, in which the vibrator coil, ballast resistor and the primary winding of `said step-up transformer are connected in electrical series, with the external voltage source being ap` plicable to the series circuit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Gates May 26, 1931 

